COLOSSUS: Departure

by Terry Frost

  What Jak didn’t know was that Admiral Allen hadn’t told anyone about Nulashin asking him to stay out of sight while he talked to the Daakie over his communicating device. Allen didn’t believe the Emporer's excuse about they might think he was a captive. He got the feeling the old Battledog might not have wanted to show all his cards to the Daakie. If so, then why?

  It was decided early on that Hopus would not be subjected to the general population. He would be shown a few areas of the ship less likely to be populated by more than those few working at their duty stations.

  The empath Morgan Piner, Lieutenant Commander Clive Chalmers, Head of Security, and two armed Marines would be escorting Field Marshall Hopus around the ship. It was Morgan’s responsibility to analyze the Nawi’s emotions during the visit.

  She was told to make sure the visitor did not become stressed at any point of the tour. She also was ordered to ask Hopus if he would mind if one of the Marines videoed his visit. When asked the question about the video Hopus didn’t seem to understand the concept.

  But before Morgan decided to explain the concept, she called upon Colonel Hammer to help her explain how the technology of video works. As soon as she felt the confusion displayed by the Field Marshal, the thought that he might weird out when finding himself possibly being transformed into a screen.

  It was already known among the executive staff that Hopus and Hammer had already developed a keen and trusting relationship. As Jak began explaining the concept of recording a video, Morgan’s assumption was spot on.

  “Hopus not like video. We believe it is cursed and will steal Hopus’s soul. We refuse to allow we’s soul to be stolen, Jak Hammer.”

  “Does Hopus not trust his friend? Does Hopus believe Jak would allow something to steal the great Field Marshal’s soul? Colonel Jak Hammer would rather die than to deceive his friend Hopus.”

  Morgan could sense the Nawi was starting to relax and at the same time swell with pride by what his friend said about dying before deceiving him. Jak could not have used a more profound way of communicating to Hopus he would be safe.

  Before proceeding Jak wanted the Marine holding the camera to make a quick video of himself and Morgan just to show Hopus their souls didn’t suddenly disappear into some other world.

  When showing Hopus the short video he laughed out loud and pointed at the video and back at Moran and Jak and said, “We see you standink here but you are on video too. Hopus wants to be in video with his friend. Hopus wants to show video to Mita and Pitah.”

  Everyone relaxed as the problem of videoing the tour had been resolved, so the group began showing the Nawi Field Marshal the wonders of Colossus. The importance of the video was so when it came time to introduce the remaining population to the new alien it would be a more secure way of allowing the people to get a look at Human’s first discovery of intelligent life outside planet Earth.

  During his tour, Hopus was obviously amazed at all the fantastic things inside the huge ship. Jak smiled a lot because the tour became a question fest with tons of what is that and what is this. Hopus seemed to be most surprised with light switches and the lighting period. Simply walking over to a wall and flipping a switch and having light pleased him so much. Someone on the tour was constantly turning lights off as they proceeded with the tour.

  With the tour about to wind down, Hopus surprised his escorts by asking to see where they kept the smaller starships that came from the sky and helped in the battle with the mynah. General Dubois had hinted that he didn’t think it would be a good idea to show the Field Marshal any advanced weaponry but he didn’t make it an order.

  While on their way down to the hangar bay, Admiral Allen had a shipwide announcement made that they would be showing a clip of the Nawi Field Marshal. That announcement had almost everyone on Colossus scampering for a television monitor with the exception of those on duty at critical stations such as the threat scanning stations, which continuously scans 360-degrees of space.

  Field Marshal Hopus’s head had been filled with glorious wonder and Colonel Hammer thought it was about time to speak to the Field Marshal privately. He had to try his best to get the location of planet Daak, and anything else he might learn from Hopus during their conversation. Jak didn’t have a hell of a lot of time to get his answer or answers, as Hopus was to have a private afternoon meal with Admiral Allen just prior to him boarding on a shuttle for the trip back to Yopa.

  “Have you had a good visit, Hopus?”

  “We have enjoyed seeink Colonel Hammer’s starship. Hopus knows Earthlinks are highly intelligent species. Nawi could not build a starship, but starship is a great way to travel among stars.”

  “Maybe someday Hopus can take a trip to the stars with Hammer.”

  “We would favor that much.”

  “May I make an inquiry about the Daakie?”

  “Yes, what can Hopus know about the Daakie?”

  “Do you know where the Daakie’s world is by looking at the stars?”

  “Hopus knows. Why does Hammer want to know the location of Daakie home?”

  “Earthlings favor Nawi much. We would like to meet the Daakie to make friends like the great Nawi.”

  Hopus’s eyebrows raised slightly then he said, “We show Hammer where is Daakie homeworld.”

  Jak stood up and walked over to a cabinet, pulled open a drawer and retrieved a rolled up star chart and spread it out in front of Hopus. He thought Hopus wouldn’t be able to read the chart so he pointed to the location of Yopa’s star, Potmus.

  Jak saw Hopus’s eyes brighten as he was fascinated by all the stars on the chart. It was obvious to Jak that his alien friend had not seen such a thing such as a map in his life.

  Jak pointed at the star Potmus and said, “This is the star nearest to Yopa. Can you show the star you know to be where the Daakie lives?”

  Hopus looked carefully for a few moments then touched a star on the chart located northeast of Potmus and out past the bigger star, Burus.

  “This is the Daakie homeworld. This star is where Supreme Emporer Nulashin tell Hopus the Daakie lives. Hopus must tell Colonel Jak Hammer to be careful with the Daakie. The Daakie are good, but we think only because they favor Nawi gemstones.”

  “I will be careful and thank you for showing me where the Daakie homeworld is,” Jak said as he wondered why Hopus told him to be careful of the Daakie. This would be something he would bring up the next time he talked to Admiral Allen.

  Jak rolled the star chart up and handed it to Hopus and said, “I would like for you to have this chart and it would please me if you would accept it as a gift from your friend Hammer.”

  Hopus took the chart without any hesitation, then thanked Jak before reaching under his chest plate bringing out a handsome gold stick pin. Sitting on top of the pin was a circle of gold with a five-carat diamond in the center.

  He stood up as did Jak and he grabbed Jak by the arm pulling him down slightly. He pinned the stick pin on Jak’s USC blouse and said, “Please accept this gift from your friend Hopus.”

  Jak stood up straight and looked at the handsome pin and said, “I will accept this fine gift, and want you to know that wherever I travel through the stars, that when I look at this pin I will think of my friend Hopus.”

  The two friends touched foreheads, which was a customary sign of warmth, respect, and friendliness among the Nawi.

  “It is time for us to go. Supreme Admiral Allen is waiting to visit with you before I take you back down to Yopa.”

  Colonel Hammer knew when he took the Field Marshal back home it could be the last time he would ever see Hopus and planet Yopa again, but also thought maybe not.

  Admiral Allen and Hopus’s lunch lasted about an hour, then the admiral escorted him to the shuttle, where Jak was standing by. Before getting onto the shuttle the admiral asked Hopus to give his Supreme Emperor his best regards and was looking forward to coming back and visiting with him again.

  A little later as Jak stood at the bac
k end of the loading ramp watching Hopus walk up the stairs and into the pound, he felt uneasy about leaving the friendly Nawi and thought I’m not real keen on leaving the Nawi. For some reason, I’m worried about them. Ah, it's probably nothing other than me thinking too much.

  Chapter 16

  Colonel Hammer had reported to Admiral Allen about his meeting with Field Marshal Hopus and informed him he had a general direction of the planet Daak. He also made sure to tell him about Hopus telling him to be careful with the Daakie.

  After hearing that from Hammer, Admiral Allen told Jak about the weird but guarded request of Nulashin asking him to step out of view of the communicating device given to the emperor by Burseq Maalik of the Daakie.

  “Well, I think it's obvious that both Nawi had a reason to stay guarded with any dealings with the Daakie, and we will keep their intentional warnings in our mind when and if we do run into them.

  “I do think it odd that if the Daakie is so much more advanced than the Nawi, why wouldn’t they just take the gemstones for themselves instead of trading with the Nawi,” asked Jak.

  “I’ve thought of that myself, Colonel. But now we need to get back to hunting for our new home, and if we happen to head out to that star system where the Field Marshal said the Daakie homeworld is located we might get the answer to that question and a few others.

  “Now if you will excuse me, Colonel, I’ve got to plot our course for the Burus System. I’m anxious to see if there could be a home for us in that star system.”

  ****

  After completing a few short jumps the Colossus had finally arrived close enough into the outer edges of the Burus system for the ship’s long-range sensors to pick up planets. Burus was a large star, about half again larger than the Earth’s star. The Colossus’s long-range sensors had picked up eleven planets within the Burus System. The first two were giant gas planets and were fairly close to each other, and they were huge.

  The biggest gas giant was the color of Neptune, and a third larger than Jupiter. It had a rotating black storm in the center of it a thousand times larger than Earth and had seven moons. Admiral Allen kept to the same protocol while searching the new Burus System as he did with the Potmus System.

  He ordered the USC Pegasus and USC Striker to lead the hunt while searching for rocky planets closer to the star Burus. Allen kept the Colossus in a safe orbit around the gas giant to allow his scientists time to complete their analysis of the planet’s atmosphere. They would not be scanning the moons as the admiral knew they would be too cold to sustain human life.

  Part of the USC’s space travel protocol was for Colossus to name newly discovered planets and their moons for purposes of future implementation onto star charts. There was a total of eight planets and sixteen moons in the Potmus System and all received names.

  There were no restraints placed on naming the heavenly bodies as long as they weren’t named after an animal or a person. Admiral Allen wanted to involve the people living on Colossus with the naming process. So he instructed drop boxes to be put out for the people to name a moon or planet. When it came time to draw a name out of the box the selection committee made up of five people drew two names and then they voted on the name of their choice. The reason for five people was so there would be a tie-breaker vote.

  Captain Kenner Slain and the USC Striker took the first planet further into the Burus System and began the task of scanning the planet for life and other considerations such as atmosphere, etc. Captain Sokolov and the USC Perseus took the lead this time and jumped to the second planet further in.

  The planet Captain Slain was scanning turned out to be an extremely cold and barren world about the size of Venus. After half a day of scanning, he checked the planet off his list for possible life.

  Colonel Hammer and Commodore Jeeves were sitting in their usual places along with Captain Slain. Finding nothing on the rocky world aggravated Jak and he was glad to hear Slain suggest they move on to the interior planets.

  After entering the coordinates to the next planet after the one Sokolov was inspecting, the Striker jumped and popped out of hyperspace near a large rocky planet. The planet was a beautiful dark avocado color.

  Meanwhile, Captain Sokolov was continuing his analysis of the large dark brown colored planet and after completely sweeping the planet found it to be too cold with no obvious signs of life either.

  Just before plotting his next jump Sokolov was hailed by Captain Slain.

  “Mikail, we may have found a planet with life on it but Striker’s scanners are malfunctioning. Can you come to my coordinates? Maybe your sensors will work or if it’s an anomaly interfering with our scanners.”

  “I copy you, Captain, plotting the course right now. See you in a few minutes,” Sokolov out.

  It didn’t take long before the USC Perseus popped out of hyperspace not far from the USC Striker. Colonel Hammer could see the Perseus and in the next second they heard Captain Sokolov say, “Beginning the scan now.”

  After a few minutes, Major Brik Hoser pressed his comlink and called Colonel Hammer.

  “Colonel Hammer, this is Major Hoser. Our scanners aren’t picking up anything. I mean to say our scanners aren’t working either. How about Captain Teasor and I take a hornet down through the planet’s atmosphere and see if the hornet’s scanners will work.”

  “Negative, Major. It's too risky to enter an alien world without knowing anything about its wind velocities. Hell, you never know when you might enter an atmosphere with winds strong enough to tear a hornet apart.

  “Hold on until Captain Slain has a chat with the admiral to see if he would bring Colossus to our position. That ship’s scanners are a lot more powerful than the Battlecruisers and might be able to break through whatever is keeping our scanners from working properly. Will be back with you shortly,” Hammer out.

  In a little over an hour, Colossus was on the XYZ planet and began scanning it. Colossus’s scanners were showing normal wind velocities, but the atmosphere was not suitable for Humans. The scanners were indicating thousands and thousands of objects flying near the surface.

  On board the Colossus was Ensign Ransik Cherny, whose job was mapping topographies and monitoring sensors. He reported to Admiral Allen that whatever it was flying just off the ground, seemed to occasionally form a cluster or ball, then disperse again. The objects consistently balled, then dispersed again and again.

  Anxiously waiting for orders, Hammer was starting to get aggravated. He thought the best way to find out what was going on near the planet’s surface was to do as Major Hoser suggested. If he didn’t get some kind of orders in the next few minutes, he was going to call General Dubois to see if he would give the order to explore. Jak didn’t have to wait much longer before he was contacted by Dubois.

  “Colonel, the admiral and I agree that we should investigate the movement of the objects on the planet. Inform Major Hoser that he and Captain Teasor have a go to check the planet out. Tell him to stay close to the stratosphere and use the hornet’s scanners from there. We don’t want him to get too close until we have a better idea of what we might be dealing with.”

  Jak was pissed. He always wants to be in the middle of possible dangerous situations and doesn’t like to send subordinates to be in harm's way, but knew Hoser was chomping at the bit to get a mission. He called the major and gave him the okay to proceed.

  The major and captain sprinted to the hornet and within seconds asked Captain Sokolov to open the bay door. The hornet was fired up and ready to launch as soon as the long single bay door retracted into the ceiling of the Perseus.

  The hornet shot out of the Battlecruiser, and a couple of seconds later the major made a short turn and headed towards the stratosphere of the dark green planet. Admiral Allen and his crew in Command Central were watching the hornet onscreen when it disappeared down into the avocado-colored fog. Several long minutes transpired before those listening to Major Hoser’s comlink heard him say, “We have broken through the atmo
sphere and are about to start scanning.

  Hoser could see the objects near the surface, but he needed to drop down a couple thousand feet to clearly define what the possible aliens looked like if, in fact, it was aliens and not some weird weather anomalies.

  So, going against General Dubois’s orders he dropped the hornet down a couple thousand feet then everyone on channel heard Hoser’s and Teasor’s voices at the same time.

  Hoser said, “Holy shit.”

  Almost at the exact same time, they heard a partially muted, “Damn, war games,” come from Teasor.

  “Remember, we can all hear you, Major,” Captain Sokolov barked.

  Jak grinned then said, “Report, Major.”

  “Colonel, this is some kind of training base. There are aliens flying what looks like “flitters” and all of them are practicing some kind of tactical maneuvers. What are your orders, sir?”

  “Have you been recording the movements?” Hammer asked.

  “Affirmative, Colonel.”

  “Fire that hornet up and get back to Perseus immediately.”

  “Yes, sir.” Major Hoser looked at his co-pilot and said, “ In three, two, one.”

  ****

  With the recorded video in hand, Major Hoser was walking from the hornet and alongside was Captain Teasor and Colonel Hammer. They were going as fast as they could walk and headed for Room Forward.

  “When you said the aliens were flying flitters did you mean the small H-shaped, two-man training vehicles?” Hammer asked.

  “Yes, sir, but they were single pilot craft and they weren’t H-shaped. The looked more like throwing darts. They were cylinders about twelve feet in length with a single canopy and on the nose was a long screw-like tip.”

  “Were you close enough to see what the pilots looked like?”

  “We were too far up, Colonel, but Teasor thought they looked like some type of insectoid.”